Garbage and refuse collection, incineration, vacuum cleaning, and ventilation system



Nov. 8,1927. 1,648,846l

J. B. HARRIS GARBAGE AND REFUSE COLLECTION, INCINERATION, VACUUM CLEANING, AND

VENTILATION SYSTEM Filed Sept. 9A 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 @hmmag Nov. 8, 1927.

J. B. HARRIS GARBAGE AND REFUSE COLLECTION, INCINERATION, VACUUM CLEANING, AND

VENTILATION SYSTEM Filed Sept. 9, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 8, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BROWN HARRIS, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

GARBAGE AND REFUSE COLLECTION, INCINERATION, VACUUM CLEANING. AND VENTILATION SYSTEM.

Application led September 9,l 1926. Serial No. 134,452.

This invention relates to means for incinerating garbage, waste, dust, and the"l1ke and the general object of the invention is to provide means whereby garbage, waste paper and other trash accumulating on different ioors of high buildings may be 1ncinerated in the usual furnace of the buildfurther object is to provide a trash and garbage incinerating system adapted to be used with two furnaces, one of which 1s operated while the other is quiescent and provide means whereby the garbage and trash may be discharged at the will of the janitor or engineer into the active furnace. Another object is to provide a systemuof this character embodying a chute extending upward through all of the floors of a. building and provide on each floor a receiving door and an exhaust fan'operative connected to the chute and operating at a. high speed to cause the positive withdrawal of trash and ,garbage from the chute and which is discharged into the furnace.

A still further object is to provide means whereby a vacuum cleaner may be connected to the discharge chute yat each floor so that the exhaust fan may be used to draw dust from the vacuum cleaner and discharge this dust downward into the furnace.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein y Figure 1 is a. vertical sectional view through a building having my garbage 1ncinerating system applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the garbage chute, the floor being in section;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3' of Figure 2,;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section of the branches from the garbage chute and the receiving hopper for each furnace;

Fig. 5 is a` section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is ak fragmentary sectional view on the line 6-6' of Figure 4.

Referring to these drawings in Figure 1 I have illustrated diagrammatically a building having any desired number of stories or floors. Extending vertically downward through this building at any desired place, as for instance through one of the walls of the building or through one of the partition walls thereof or through the party wall of a building, is a discharge chute 10 preferably 14" x 14" square, formed of 1/8 thick sheet metal and enameled both inside and outside. This chute will preferably .be made in sections extending from center to center of floors. The chute will extend at its upper end 3 above the top floor and will be closed at 11. Each section of the chute 10 is preferably formed with outwardly projecting flanges 12 held together by bolts and properly packed to form an air-tight joint and if the floors of the building are formed of concrete, concrete 13 will preferably be poured all around the joint.

At each floor the chute will be provided with an opening 14 closed by a hinged door l5. This door, as illustrated, is a tilting door mounted upon a transversely extending pivot rod 16 so that when the door is turned outward, as illustrated in Figure 3, it will serve as a receptacle for garbage, papers, or all other trash or refuse, and when the door is turned inward it will tightly close the opening 14.- Each door is provided with a nipple 17 screw-threaded for engagement with the vacuum hose of a vacuum sweeper.

The discharge chute 10 extends downward throughv all the iioors of the building into the kkfurnace room 18. Within this room 18 are disposed one or more, but preferably two, smokeless furnaces designated 19 and 19. These furnaces may be ofl any suitable construction but will preferably be of the smokeless type illustrated in my prior Patent No. 1,101,925, granted June 30, 1914. The chute 10 extends down into the furnace room at a point exactly midway between the two boilers or furnaces. Eighteen inches below the ceiling ofthe furnace room 18 the vertical vdischarge chute 10 opens into the two extension bifurcating chutes 20 and 20. These extend downward and laterally in a curve and open into trash hoppers 21 mounted inthe upper end of' each furnace and discharge thereinto. Each of these trash hoppers is covered. by a wire screen 28 and in each trash hopper there are located downwardly opening doors 24 supported in horizontal positions across the trash hoppers by means of. adjustable weights 25 so that normally these. doorsy will be closed but when trash or garbage has accumulated within a hopper to a certain predetermined weight,

about e5@ and are curved to an i8 radius.

Disposed at the junction of the bottom of these chutes and exactly midway of the axis of chute l0 is a diversion valve 26 which is of steel plate enameled and pivoted on an axis 27 so that this valve may be shifted to extend across the junction of either chute with the main chute 10. The pivotal member 27 of this member is formed with a many sided head with which a crank Q8 may be engaged. This crank has a latch 29 upon which it is adapted to be engaged with eit ier one of two keepers 30 mounted respectively upon the two branches 2() and 20a. Thus, it will be seen that waste matter falling down the main chute'10 strikes the diversion valve plate (closed over that branch chute leading to the furnace in reserve or, in other words, not in'use) and deflects the refuse into the active furnace.

Associated with each ofthe branches or extensions 20 and 20a is an exhaust fan casing' C having therein an exhaust fan operating at from 1600 to 3000 It. l. M., and preferably motor driven. Each fan intersects the inner curvature of the curved branch chute and the blades of the fan in their passage travel through the branch chute only 7 The fans are to be made with variable speeds but if the fan has 3000 R. P. M. it will create a partial vacuum equal to 8 of mercury column. 1600 R. l?. M., however, only produces a partial vacuum suction. When the refuse falls down the chute 10 it is not only acted upon by gravity but is positively drawn down the chute by the `suction fan and thus such waste matter strikes the valve plate set to close the inactive branch, a side sweeping glancing blow. Inasmuch as the mass has fallen a number of stories as, for instance, 10, and is accelerated by the suction of the exhaust fan, it follows that when it strikes the valve plate 26 it is deflected and is given a peripheral momentum which causes it to hug against and scour the side of the branch chute having the greatest curvature. It, therefore, passes the exhaust fan blades without touching them and is discharged into the 4e X It X 1f metal feed box or hopper 2l on top of the furnace. When the proper accumulation of refuse has been secured in this feed box or trash hopper 21, the doors 24 will automatically open and the refuse discharged into the furnace. The two furnaces are used preferably so that one furnace may be held in reserve as is the practice in large buildings today, while the other furnace is operating.

With one furnace under fire and the diversion valve set to `send garbage vand refuse into the active furnace, and the exhaust fan on that side running, the janitors cleaning the building, say at 5 a. m., gather the solid and tangible waste on any and all iioors and by the waste basket'full discharge it through a door 15 into the vertical chute. The door l5 is immediately closed and when all the floors have been cleaned of solid waste,

then the vacuum hose of a vacuum sweeper may be connected to the nipple on door l5 and all oiiices and halls may be swept of dust and the dust will be carried down into the furnace. Then the vacuum hose may be detached from the nipples and the nipples left wide open all day long and the carbonio acid gas exhaled from the lungs sinks toward the floor, as it will do because of its weight in relation to atmospheric air, and the suction through the nipples will keep this foul air or carbonic acid Vgas drained from the various floors. Thus, tuberculosis bacilli or other germs thrown out by infected occupants will be drawn down into t-he furnace. It will be seen that this system may be readily installed in all modern buildingsthat it may be readily adapted to buildings of any desired height or area7 that it provides a very convenient and easy method of disposing of the refuse and that it is extremely sanitary.

A hood 3l is preferably applied tothe screened upper end 23 of hopper' 21, this hood having an outlet 32 which communicates with the draft door D of the associated furnace. By this construction dust blown through the screen 23 and air drawn Vfrom the rooms during ordinary operation will be led through the furnace and any germs contained therein destroyed. This provides a convenient means for disposing of dust which otherwise would be blown into 'the furnace room. Furthermore the stack draft of the furnace will assist in creating suction through the conduits 20 and 10 and the action of the blower will assist in providing a draft for the furnace. i'

Ihile I have illustrated certain details of construction and arrangement of parts which I have found to be particularly effective in act-ual practice, I do not wish to be limited thereto as it is obvious that many changes might be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

l. In a building, a furnace located in the basement of the building, a refuse chute eir-` tending downward through the several'floors of the building and discharging into the furnace, means operatively connected to the chute adjacent the furnace to withdraw air from the chute, the chute at each floor including a door, and the chute at each floor being provided with means whereby the interior of the chute may be connected to the vacuum pipe of a vacuum sweeper.

2. In a building, a furnace located in the basement, a refuse chute extending vertically through all vfloors of the building and into the basen'ient, a receiving hopper mounted upon the furnace and discharging thereinto and into which the chtite discharges, doors normally extending across the hopper and held in this position by counterweights yielding to permit the doors to open and discharge the contents'of the hopper into the furnace when a predetermined amount of refuse has gathered in the hopper, said hopper having a screened upper wall, a hood engaged with said upper wall, and a connection between said hood and the draft door of the furnace.

3. ln a building, a furnace located in the basement ot the building, a vertically eX- tending refuse chute extending through the various floors of the building and discharg ing into the furnace, an exhaust fan casing intersecting said chute, a fan therein whose blades travel through a portion of said chute permitting the discharge of trash `through that portion of the chute through which the blades of the fan do not travel, the chute at each floor having a door, the chute at each floor being provided with means whereby it may be connected to the exhaust pipe of a vacuum cleaner for that door.

4. In a building,`two furnaces located in the basement of the building, a refuse chute extending vertically through the several ioors of the building and into the basement and having two branches extending downward and outward from the chute and disA charging into lthe top of each furnace, means in the top of the `furnace for separating the refuse from the air and carrying the air downward into the furnace below the lire therein, a diversion valve disposed within the chute at the intersection of the branches and adapted to be turned so as to discharge the refuse into one or the other of the branches and thus into one or the other of the furnaces, means connected to each branch of the refuse chute between the diversion valve and the corresponding furnace for withdrawing air from the. chute, 'the chute having a normally closed opening at each floor through which trash may be discharged into the chute.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aix my signature.

JOHN BROWN HARRIS. 

